Gaymar Industries, Inc. manufactures a Sof•Care HeelCare boot. It has been manufacturing that pre-inflated heel care boot since 1982. A description of that pre-inflated heel care boot, identified only as item 110, is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5 and described in the detailed description of the invention.
Another heel boot embodiment is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,259 to Jacobs et al. The heel care boot described and illustrated by Jacobs et al. is extremely similar to Gaymar's Sof•Care HeelCare boot except it has a valve to receive a conduit. That conduit directs a fluid from a pressurized fluid source into the heel boot.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,944, Kuiper et al. discloses “a therapeutic limb covering and an associated method of treating chronic swelling of a limb. The limb covering is uses hydrostatic pressure provided by liquid contained within the covering to apply pressure to the limb. The limb covering comprises a substantially non-distensible flexible outer layer, a distensible flexible inner layer joined together and a liquid tight bladder therebetween. The covering may be adapted for releasable securement about a limb such as an arm or a lower leg and foot of a patient. After placement on the limb, when the bladder is filled with a liquid, such as water, it expands to contact and apply pressure to the limb.” The liquid can be drawn into the boot by a vacuum through a syringe.